out of the box

alternative out-of-the-box

1. businessOf a product, immediately, without intervention from the customer.

   This software has to work out of the box, without any fancy installation.

   1 more example

   As well as trade union opposition when the new Class 195s arrived, they could not work 'out of the box' due to gauge clearance issues.

   2019 November 6, “Industry Insider: Blame the policymakers”, in Rail, page 76

   Synonyms: off the shelf

2. figurativelyOutside the box; unconventionally: outside the limits of conventional thinking.

   She: You’re not trying to think out of the box!

   2007, Allan Wolf, Zane's Trace, Candlewick Press, →ISBN, page 63

   3 more examples

   He started out with the rather obvious alternative of talking to Junior; Hesh’s scheme was more imaginative; and Tony’s idea of torching the restaurant really is out of the box.

   2004, Deborrah Himsel, Leadership Sopranos Style: How to Become a More Effective Boss, Kaplan Publishing, →ISBN, page 135

   Mom and dad didn’t have a ready answer to Mort’s out of the box idea, but Mickey did.

   2005, John Campbell Self, Faeries’ Dance, Cupid’s Dream, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 16

   She said the agency was happy to review “out-of-the-box pitches,” particularly those that celebrate “what it means to be an American.”

   2025 May 16, Hamed Aleaziz, quoting Tricia McLaughlin, “A Reality Show Where Immigrants Compete for U.S. Citizenship? D.H.S. Is Considering It.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

   Synonyms: laterally, outside the box, outside of the box, OOTB

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: See out of, the, box.